Mobile network operator (mno) control of wifi qos via eap/diameter

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016227443-A1
Application number	US-201415022081-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Sep 16, 2014
Priority date	Sep 16, 2013
Publication date	Aug 4, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A mobile network operator (MNO) may control WiFi QoS. 3GPP has specified control mechanisms for various levels of quality of service (QoS) over the cellular access and core network. Embodiments described herein provide differentiation of WiFi QoS based on MNO requirements. In particular, extensible authentication protocol (EAP) and diameter messages may be extended to include a wireless local area network QoS parameter. This may be used by user equipment to set the uplink 802.11e User Priority (UP) for offloaded or evolved packet core-routed WiFi traffic.

First claim

1 . A server comprising:
a processor; and a memory coupled with the processor, the memory having stored thereon executable instructions that when executed by the processor cause the processor to effectuate operations comprising:
receiving a message that indicates a wireless local area network (WLAN) identity, wherein the message is formatted in accordance with an extensible authentication protocol (EAP) message and the WLAN identity is associated with the server;
inserting a WLAN quality of service (QoS) parameter into an extended extensible authentication protocol (EAP) message; and
sending the extended EAP message to a second server, thereby providing a QoS policy specified by an MNO to the second server.

2 . The server of claim 1 , wherein the server is associated with a trusted WLAN network (TWAN).

3 . The server of claim 2 , the operations further comprising relaying a message from the second server to a UE using WiFi, the message including the WLAN QoS parameter such that the QoS policy specified by the MNO is provided to the UE.

4 . The server of claim 2 , wherein the QoS policy is a global policy that applies to a plurality of user equipment's within the TWAN.

5 . The server of claim 3 , wherein the QoS policy is a policy that applies to the UE based on subscription information associated with the UE.

6 . The server of claim 1 , the operations further comprising:
retrieving the QoS policy via a home subscriber server.

7 . A first server comprising:
a processor; and a memory coupled with the processor, the memory having stored thereon executable instructions that when executed by the processor cause the processor to effectuate operations comprising:
sending a diameter message to a second server, the diameter message indicative of an identity of a UE;
monitoring extensible authentication protocol (EAP) messages between the UE and the second server;
based on the monitored EAP messages and the identity of the UE, identifying a wireless local area network (WLAN) quality of service (QoS) policy associated with the UE;
sending the identified WLAN QoS policy to the UE; and
applying the identified WLAN QoS policy to downlink traffic flows destined for the UE.

8 . The first server as recited in claim 7 , wherein the identified WLAN QoS policy is sent to the UE via an EAP message.

9 . The first server as recited in claim 7 , wherein the WLAN QoS policy is specific to the UE based on subscriber information associated with the UE.

10 . The first server as recited in claim 7 , the operations further comprising:
providing data to the UE in accordance with the WLAN QoS policy.

11 . The first server as recited in claim 7 , the operations further comprising setting a user priority for WLAN downlink traffic flows destined for the UE in accordance with the WLAN QoS policy.

12 . The first server as recited in claim 7 , wherein the first server is a trusted wireless access network server, and the second server is a 3GPP AAA server.

13 . A user equipment comprising:
a processor; and a memory coupled with the processor, the memory having stored thereon executable instructions that when executed by the processor cause the processor to effectuate operations comprising:
authenticating with a server controlled by a mobile network operator (MNO);
based on the authentication, receiving a message that indicates a wireless local area network (WLAN) quality of service (QoS) policy, the message formatted in accordance with an extended extensible authentication protocol (EAP) message; and
receiving downlink traffic flows in accordance with the WLAN QoS policy.

14 . The user equipment of claim 13 , wherein the message is received from a trusted network (TWAN) server.

15 . The user equipment of claim 14 , the operations further comprising:
providing data to the TWAN server based on the WLAN QoS policy.

16 . The user equipment of claim 13 , the operations further comprising:
setting a user priority for WLAN uplink traffic flows according to the WLAN QoS policy.

17 . The user equipment of claim 13 , wherein the WLAN QoS policy is stored in a home subscriber server (HSS).

18 . The user equipment of claim 13 , wherein the WLAN QoS policy is applied to the user equipment based on subscriber information associated with the user equipment.

Assignees

• Convida Wireless LLC

Inventors

• Tomici John L
• Li Qing
• Starsinic Michael F
• Russell Paul L

Classifications

• H04W28/24 Primary

  Negotiating SLA [Service Level Agreement]; Negotiating QoS [Quality of Service] · CPC title

• H04W12/06

  Authentication · CPC title

• H04W84/12

  WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks] · CPC title

• H04W88/18

  Service support devices; Network management devices · CPC title

• H04W8/04

  Registration at HLR or HSS [Home Subscriber Server] · CPC title